3 Websites to Download Older Versions of Apps [2024 Update]

All of us might have wondered what would happen if we were to download older versions of apps instead of just getting it from the App Store. Would it bring us benefits by providing access to features that were removed, or will we be inconvenienced with the number of bugs still existent on the app before updates?

For some, the answer may not be clear, but for you, it’s only a matter of whether you want to try it out or not. That is because today, we’re going to talk about how you can download older versions of apps. Since the process would be a bit complicated, let’s start by answer some questions that you may have about the subject.

Why Should You Download Older Versions of Apps?Preparing to Download Older Versions of AppsHow to Download Older Versions of Apps on APK4FunHow to Download Older Versions of Apps on APKMirrorHow to Download Older Versions of Apps on uptodownFinal Words

Why Should You Download Older Versions of Apps?

To begin with, do you have an idea why many people want to download older versions of apps? After all, why should you go to the trouble of doing this if you can just download the current version. To give you a better idea, here’s a look at those reasons:

• Removed Features. Sometimes, developers make the mistake of removing features that turns out to be very beneficial to the users. This often happens when developers do not get comprehensive feedbacks from users.
• Newly-Created Bugs. Although the main point of updates is to remove bugs, you may find that some updates introduce an even worse bug than the previous ones.
• Interface Design. The user interface is likely to change after an update, but that doesn’t mean that it always ends up being better. In fact, there are times when the user interface becomes harder to use after undergoing changes.
• As usual with devices, the operating system may not be able to adopt with the change in the app, especially if the update involves an increase in performance, leading to an increase in resource consumption as well.
• Customer Support. Some apps have better customer support with their older versions than the latest version, mainly due to the fact that older versions have been through more problems than the latest.
• Lastly, updates are likely to introduce to users countless ads that weren’t there before without any reason.

Now that you have some insights on the importance of this subject, it should be more understandable to you why many people want to download older versions of apps. We call this process a ‘rollback’. Unfortunately, a rollback is not possible if you are on Google Play or Apple Store. In short, you will have to use a third-party source. But before that, you have yet to completely understand how to prepare for the process.

Preparing to Download Older Versions of Apps

Before you try to download older versions of apps, it’s important to understand that there are things you must do first. Here’s a look at those pre-requisites:

• Enable unknown sources
• Disable automatic app updates
• Uninstallation

These three are the conditions you have to meet before you can learn how to download older versions of apps. So without further ado, let’s find out how to complete them.

Enable Unknown Sources

Take note that your device does not allow the installation of apps from unknown sources by default. Such unknown sources include browsers, apps, file manager, and many more. Since we’ll be talking about websites, you have to enable this feature, and you can do so by following these steps:

1. On your phone, head to the Settings
2. From the Settings, go to Security.
3. Scroll down until you see an option that says ‘Unknown sources’, which you should then enable.

Disable Automatic App Updates

In addition to enabling installation through unknown sources, you will also have to ensure that after download older versions of apps, it won’t update automatically, otherwise what you’ve done would be pointless. Here’s how you can do this:

1. On your device, launch the Google Play Store.
2. At the left panel of the app, tap on the three horizontal lines or the hamburger icon.
3. Select Settings from the resulting menu.
4. Under the General section, locate the option for ‘Auto-update apps’ then tap on it.
5. From the resulting popup menu, select Do not auto-update apps.

This should allow you to download older versions of apps as you please without worrying about the apps automatically updating themselves. However, you will still get notifications on whether the updates for such apps is available, though you can simply decline them.

Uninstall the Updated App

The last thing you have to do before you download older versions of apps is to actually uninstall the app in question. This is obviously so that you can install the older version properly without any conflict. Unfortunately, you will lose the app data upon doing so. On the other hand, you have the option to keep that data by following a certain procedure.

We call such procedure ‘synchronization’. This involves ensuring that the data from the current app is saved from the cloud. You can usually do this by going to your Settings, heading to Accounts, then selecting Google. From there, make sure that App Data Sync is enabled.

Once this is done, you will be able to uninstall the app without worrying about anything. Of course, doing that is very easy. You just have to press and hold on an app then send it to the trash. In some devices, you have to click on the X icon after pressing and holding on the screen.

Now that you know the three pre-requisites to download older versions of apps, all you have to learn is how to actually do it. Our method involves using a website to download the app.

If you want to use such websites, we suggest checking your internet first. This is because downloading from websites is slower than downloading from Google Play. So without further ado, let’s start with our first website.

How to Download Older Versions of Apps on APK4Fun

APK4Fun is a fairly popular repository where you can get download older versions of apps. Normally, it’s where people get different apps in the form of APK files. It’s similar to Google Play Store and Apple Store, except for the fact that it allows you to download any version of an app, including the latest version and even the older versions.

Not only that, you can also download the APK files without much hassle. Also, you have the option to choose from different versions, and that would be why we chose this website to download older versions of apps.

Here’s how you can access the APK4Fun warehouse and download the versions of whichever app you choose:

1. Go to the website through this link: https://www.apk4fun.com/.
2. On the site, click on the search bar which should be located at the top-right corner of the page.
3. Type in the name of the app that you want to download.
4. Scroll-down until you see a list of APK files with different indicated dates. This is the Version Historyof the app. Select the version that you want to download. There should be details about that version in case you want to know about it in detail..

That’s pretty much everything you need to know about APK4Fun. It might not be the best, but it’s still something you should consider when trying to download older versions of apps.

How to Download Older Versions of Apps on APKMirror

APKMirror is a bit too similar to APK4Fun. It is where you can find popular apps and hunt down the older versions of the app through APK files. Their claim is that you can get versions as old as those that were released 2 years ago, though it’s not likely for you to find ones that are older than that.

This is perhaps the difference between the two, since apps from APK4Fun doesn’t have an estimation and most of the versions are published by anonymous experts. On the other hand, the two share the same process to download older versions of apps.

1. First, you simply have to go to the website which should have this link: https://www.apkmirror.com/.
2. Once you’re here, go to the search bar then type in the apps name.
3. On the app page, you’ll see a SEE AVAILABLE APKS button, which you should then click.
4. Now find the version you prefer and download that file.

This should be as easy as it can be to you since you already have an idea how the process goes. With that said, let’s head to our last entry for this article.

How to Download Older Versions of Apps on uptodown

uptodown is a very popular repository for countless apps from different platforms. It can come from platforms such as iOS, Mac, Android, and even lesser-known platforms such as Ubuntu and other web apps.

Unfortunately, as popular as it is, it also houses only popular apps. But searching for an app shouldn’t be a problem. Here’s how you can download older versions of apps through the popular platform, uptodown.

1. Type in the link https://en.uptodown.com/android on the search bar and press Enter to go to the official website of uptodown.
2. Click on the search bar at the top-left corner of the platform.
3. Here, type in the name of the app you’re looking for.
4. Select the app to go to its page.
5. On the app page, click on the Versions button which should be found at the bottom of the big green Download
6. Select the version that you prefer. This should take you to the download page which will prompt the download process automatically.

Compared to the other two options, this one would be a bit easier since the interface is clean and intuitive. With that, we have our three choices to download older versions of apps using a third-party source or a website.

Final Words

There isn’t any app that is only available in one version. All apps and even programs have different versions, each having its own strengths and weaknesses. In some cases, the latest versions have undergone the opposite of development and have instead become downgraded.

In the event that this happens to you, you might want to download older versions of apps. It might not be common, but it is still possible. And that is especially true for you now that you know the different websites to download APK files from.